Spring Deer Sightings in MN

[West Branch]

So what are you MN guys seeing for deer in different areas of MN this spring?

I have heard of quite a few deer in the road ditches eating the green stuff in east-central MN and in the southern and western parts of the Arrowhead. Of course some people are going to interpret this as too high of deer populations, instead of it being due to the severe winter in those areas.

Deer have moved back onto our farm from their yarding areas. My brother saw 8 deer on Saturday evening. 6 were on the 1/2 acre of rye we planted last August and 2 were on the 20 acres of clover/alfalfa that border it. He didn't look to closely at them. I am going up May 9 to plant trees, do mineral sites, and put cameras out to get a better idea of how the deer are looking.

The farm is in western Carlton County. I consider it the most southern part of NE MN, but others may call it east-central MN.

 

[LessRice]

Driving from northern suburbs to Grand Rapids on Saturday I saw 6 deer total in MN. Compare that to driving in Burnett County where, for us, our deer herd is down and saw 42 deer in yards, fields, ditches, etc. over maybe 20 total miles while out turkey hunting on Sunday.

The deer I have seen have looked pretty good, not much winter kill by us at all. Seeing a lot of does with twins.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Seeing does with twins???????

 

[SD51555]

Lots of those deer in that part of the state come out of the woods to feed on the grass in the ditch because that's the only green forage coming at the time. Last year when I was up at planting time, every single deer I saw was feeding in a south facing ditch.

 

[PRK]

Up north here the deer eating roadside grass seem to have come through winter in pretty good shape. Likes smsmith observed, seems to be a lot of fawns. Have quite a few tracts coming into the rye I planted last year and just put out the cameras today.

 

[LessRice]

Seeing does with twins???????

Last years lol. Fawns are usually one of the first to go so it's nice knowing they made it.

 

[Jameson]

Inside the metro the other day I saw a doe with her three nearly year old fawns in tow.

 

[sandbur]

Like the above posts, most of our population is fawns. I would guess 80-90%.

When most are fawns the sex balance is pretty good if you are trying to find a bright side.

 

[bat man]

I have found 3 dead fawns south of Onamia and have not been through the bedding areas for a walk yet. I need to get out and take a peak.

 

[biglakeba$$]

I found one dead doe, but likely hit by a car as it was in teh alfalfa field of ours a couple hundred yds from the highway. Nothing else. We trounced around most of the woods a couple weekends ago hinge cutting and no other fatalities noted....

 

[Riggsgwp->]

I talked to a friend in Duluth and he said there are deer bodies all over in the woods. Sounds like it was severe winter kill there and north. Pretty sad! On the brighter side I see groups of deer from Baxter on south during my commute. One area that now has good deer numbers is SW MN I couldn't believe the deer running around the crp fields down there. Limited harvest has protected a lot of deer down there.

 

[Reagan]

I have a question. Are the whitetails in Canada a different subspecies? Do Canadian white tails suffer the same kind of winter kill that I see MN and WI people talking about on forums?

 

[Freeborn]

I have not found any dead deer near Parkers Prairie in Ottertail County. Appears the deer did well by us but we did not have deep snow like we had last year.

 

[hendy247]

Drove around the block 1 mile by 2 miles on sat and saw about 40 deer out in the fields in Pine county.found 2 dead deer on 40 acres, a doe and a doe fawn

 

[bueller]

Bergman's rule ;)

http://www.whitetailsunlimited.com/i/p/bk_distribution.pdf

Nice link!!!

 

[sandbur]

I have three fawns on my 170 acres!